Arrested At The Starting Line: The Insane and Fraudulently Funded Top Fuel Career of RL Peyton 

I was there that day. I was 16 years old, and drove down with one of my buddies to see our neighbor Howard Parks run his 426 Hemi Powered '67 Plymouth Belvedere. He won his class, but the whole day took on a different slant when this guy R.L. Peyton pulled up to the line. We didn't pay much attention because his rail job didn't look nice, like Tom Hoover's and Don Garlits. Next thing I know, R.L. pulls his rail crossways in the middle of the track, and then got out and pulled his Riviera into the other lane as you can see in the photos on the video. Everybody started booing R.L. because he was holding up things with his protest. From where I stood I don;t think anybody there was supporting R.l by their actions. We were all pissed because of his presumably bogus protesting. I could tell by the appearance of the car that he was a low-budget racer. About Ten minutes went by and the beer cans and bottles started flying onto the track by the thousands. The photo shown doesn't really reflect the true amount of glass and cans that were thrown that day. I took a picture of it, but haven't seen it in years. The bottles and cans were a foot deep in some places, and had to be removed with a front-end loader! This very event was forever more the reason that glass bottles were not allowed anymore at sporting events. Especially in Bristol!

Early Drag Racing was a golden era, but also a Wild West! At the early California Hot Rod Reunions, some of the stories I heard where way too crazy to be true, but, as time went on and I learned more, they where true! Thanks Brian, for keeping the History alive! Warts and all!

I can not express how much i love learning about this side of drag racing! Thank you, Brian, for all your hard work!

Love those stories from the "wilder" times of Drag Racing.. Running on the proverbial shoestrings and having a wild time doing so, much like NASCAR of the time NHRA and IHRA were a sport of run what ya brung, and however you got it there.. Way more fun than the semi-corporate PR controled Automotive Sports of today... Thanks Brian as always... such great story telling

Gotta hand it to ya. Your enthusiastic storytelling on the podcasts brought me here. They helped to make my jobs go better when doing tedious stuff, but the visuals on RU-vid are like icing on the cake! Great job and continued success.

The characters in drag racing are not all boy scouts. What a great story. Goodfellas meets Heart Like a Wheel. Thank you for this fabulous piece of history. Keep 'em coming.

Another incredible story Brian! Love it, keep 'em coming!

It just kills me that this channel doesn't have millions of subscribers. I mean it's Brian Lohnes delivering cool drag racing history for dang sake, how can any self-proclaimed "car guy" not be watching these?!?

Man, this was awesome. Never would've known about this if I hadn't clicked on it. Thanks!🤘🏁

This was my uncle. I heard all kinds of stories..now I find this. Crazy my other uncle Harrison Peyton is working on turning this into a movie Called Wild man...crazy hope it becomes a movie the stories I could tell about this guy

I'm 77 years old and raced nationally in the seventies. I don't remember R.L. Payton but there were quite a few marginal cars running Top Fuel back in the day. At the NHRA Nationals they has 32 car fields because of the roller starters. It was cool to watch Top Fuelers make run after run with little delay between runs. I used to have a friend that would travel with me to National events to crew on these budget fuelers. Some of these cars could law down reasonable qualifying passes usually expiring at the end of the quarter. Several would qualify and some would actually go a couple of rounds. I remember a few names ( Dick Lahie from Michigan, Chris Karmasines from Chicago, John Logenecker from Ohio and Grant Stoms from the east coast. Be nice if you could do an article on these back end qualifiers. Lot's of neat stories.

Great content, as usual. Thank you for keeping drag history alive

Cool stuff! Boy, when you started talking about some of the unsavory characters in the early days of drag racing I was almost frozen with fear. Thank you for not mentioning Gene Snow.

You should be nominated as one of the all time greatest story tellers. Yet again I had heard of the cans and bottles being thrown on the Bristol track. But had no idea of what circumstance it was centered around.

Super cool to see advertisements for New London Dragway and EastSide Speedway. Two tracks close to me. Both now closed. Never got to race at New London but have spent many weekends at EastSide

What an incredible story! I've never heard of this guy to my memory, and I'd not seen the beer can-littered track photo either. What a great job coming up with this story and all the information surrounding it. Excellent work once again, Brian!

Thank you Brian, I have been a fan since 1965 and this was a fun story new to me.

Hey Brian, I've been following drag racing since 1967 at age 10 & I never even heard of this guy. Great story! Thanks & Happy New Year.

I stopped this at 1:12. I was born in 1965. My father, like all of his friends were drag racers and car club members. My parents were no different than my friends parents but they were in motorcycle clubs. I always wondered why 'car clubs' never got a bad rep like the 'bikers'. Same people back then just different ways of going fast on pavement. (edited for this) Liked and subscribed.

Totally Awesome Video,Thank You Brian,That Was Fun Stuff !!!

My momma warned me about these dirty drag racers. This is why businesses literally cut-up credit cards if declined or rejected 🤔😳😎… And I met Billie and he was a hoot and charming too. What about the Chicago Tuff Rabbit group ?

You have to think. Ww2 ended not long before Nascar and NHRA got started up. Most of the guys that started both series are ex military men. Still looking for the adrenaline rush like the war.

Love the Jack Approved Decal on the scoop at 29 seconds!!

Great story! Drag racing in it's infancy was the wild wild west! Loved seeing the Grove! Thanks Brian! More please... (How about a Broadway Bob story?)

Thanks for these historical videos Brian, it helps with the long New Hampshire winters!

One of the better stories I've heard so far this year, thanks!

In the early 70's a pro stock car from a the states turned up in the uk🇬🇧 called the LONDON HEAVY it was far and away the fastest pro stock car in the country and won just about every event it entered. My father was racing in pro stock( big john 289 mustang fast back) and was gifted a pair of new slicks by the heavy's driver as a thank you for help during a race weekend. My dad (sadly passed) told me years later, any favour asked or given by the cars driver was accepted with out question as the guy who owned the car in the states, was not a man to mess with. The London heavy was the same body/ trans and engine,and painted identically to the Brookland heavy.

This was excellent, im amazed at how much research you must of done. Great channel. Thanks..

I actually met mr peyton in 1991 at the atlanta dragstrip. We had been hauling our car up and down the entire east coast that year competing for the fastest street car in america title (which we finally acheived and held for 8 months, it was not an easy task!) Anyway, mr peyton introduced himself to us as an old top fuel racer from the 1960's, i had never heard of the guy before and didn't know him from the man on the moon. I asked him if he was running a car on that particular day and he said no, i got into a bit of legal trouble in the late 60's and had to hang up my helmet, but, i miss it every single day. He even pulled out an old worn and tattered A.H.R.A license from the 60's and showed it to us. He talked about racing against the greats back in the day, Don prudhome, garlits, bill dunlap etc etc. I had no idea if anything this middle aged guy who was sucking down copious amounts of old milwaukee were true or not, but, he was a very polite and interesting guy and i couldn't help but to listen to the tons of stories he had to tell. I never saw mr peyton again after that one day in atlanta georgia. After watching this video i now know that this man was very much legit with everything he had told us. It's a real shame that he could not continue doing the sport that he obviously loved so very much. Rest in peace Mr. R L Peyton!

Can we do a video on Brooklyn Heavy , the name alone sounds like a great story waiting to be told!

And that is why all cans and bottles were banned from drag racing events. I remember late 70's and early 80's going to SIR and they would search your cars for alcohol. Now days you dont get to park close to the fences, and they look in all coolers and such to enter the event.

I remembered that picture of their pro stock with them dressed up as gangsters! I always wondered Billy the Kid was a cowboy. Why are these guys dressing up as gangsters?!

Wow that's a crazy story! Keep them coming!

I read his book, given to me by a friend of his brothers, here in Orlando. My friend says all these stories are true and he was a legit wild man. My last trip to the Garlits Museum, about 2 months ago, I wanted to ask Don, about R.L., but his hearing is so bad, hard to have a conversation with him. Thanks for sharing JT: Orlando Fla Florida Dragstrip Riot LLC

US 13 Dragway is my home track. I love the old clippings from there. I would love to know where you found them. Thanks for a great video

Great to see the flyer from Great Lakes in Union Grove,Wi probably only track but Bristol still in operation. Broadway Bob is gone but not forgotten

When you’re playing GTA with a wanted level and get Busted while racing

Another great story! Thank you Brian!

Great job Brian! This reminds me of some of my dads stories about hot rodding while growing up in the 50s and early 60s. Dad would tell some of the craziest stories and swear they were true. Dad was an honest man and never ever known to tell a lie, yet some stories seemed too crazy to be true. I began to wonder if they were simply embellished to a point where maybe things didn't happen the way he said they did. I heard all the stories many times. They always remained the same, no detail varied. Well later in life something weird began to happen as dad got older. We might be at a family reunion on top of a mountain in eastern Kentucky. Dad would be far away in his wheelchair, as dad became permanently disabled from an on the job accident and lived his last 25 years this way. First time this phenomenon happened i remember walking up and hearing somebody else telling one of dads stories, as this particular person was there for that particular story. I was floored when every detail matched dads story! It was crazy things like some feller had a new 1957 chevrolet 4 door hardtop. With 4 guys in it they were going too fast and left the road, rolling the car 4 times. Dad was in passenger front seat when the car landed on all 4 tires...but dads rear end was stuck between the seat and the crushed roof. After getting out with help nobody was hurt. They decided the best thing to do was take the bumper jack and raise the roof enough to drive the car home, which they did. Of course they went home 4 wheel drifting the curves in the same way that got them in that mess in the first place. In the end, since the car was almost new, insurance cut the top off, welded a new one on and car was "just like new" again. It was endless stories like that which dad told. And more time went on i would hear other peoples accounts of dads stories, again giving complete confirmation of every one. Later in life dad said "i should write a book about my life, but nobody would believe it. Id have to call it fiction. Dad died in March 2016 at 75 years old and life has not been the same since i lost my best friend and father, both being the same man. Im 54 now and disabled myself, going blind and then MS, now heart disease with a minor stroke. It sucks still having your wits about you but the old body can't do what it used to. As a life long mechanic and drag racer and overall "car guy" its getting rough watching people do what i can't do anymore, but one must go on and i wish the very best for all y'all out there doing your thing with vehicles and having a good time doing so amd making their own true stories! I happen to have a few of my own...😎

Wow! What a character! Thanks Brian for the great history lesson.

Thank you Brian for giving substance to the sport from an angle that should never be forgotten and thank you for mentioning my company name at national events that I sponsor in Top Fuel (Nelson Trucking)

Now that is an interesting and unusual story about a guy I never heard of !! Very well done . Many thanks Brian for another wonderful and entertaining story. PS : I always wondered about all those cans.

I’m not sure how you keep outdoing yourself Brian, but keep it up my friend.

Awesome. Thanks for ur hard work!

Best episode ever. I don't think many of the F1 sponsors are that clean either.

Here it is 2024 and I am reading about the Bristol race I attended where the bottles and cans stopped the race, "a day that shall live in infamy". If my memory is correct Peyton also attended the Bristol race in years prior to the year of the riot. At one of the races his operation was so budget strapped that he hauled the dragster backwards in the bed of a pickup truck with the front wheels extended well beyond the open tailgate. Can anyone confirm this happened or has it been so long ago that my memory is not correct??? I definitely remember some of the most impressive runs were those of "The Big Bamboo". Great reporting keep-up the good work.

Graham Ellis and his Son are in Jail today for running a Superbird Pro Mod at Santa Pod on Heroin £££ they were importing via their haulage Co . Some dope else was nicked also with a '55 doing the same thing, "Drug racing" .....its a powerful thing🤣 Great vid. UK

That would make a great movie 😂could u possibly do a video on the two midwest classic drag strip's of Great Lakes Dragway in Wisconsin and US30 Dragstrip in Indiana please, such a big part of being a 1970s kid

i remember how credit cards were handled then with the carbon paper swiped. probably used one as a convenience store clerk in the late 70s. one of the first job interviews i went on in 1981 was at a bank and the guy said one of their upcoming projects was to be ATM machines. things sure have changed. thanks for this brian. really great stuff you're doing

Wow, what a story! I followed drag racing closely back then so I recalled this character's name but somehow missed (or maybe forgot) the Bristol incident. And I definitely didn't know about Billy Stepp's background! Thanks!

Buddy your really good with the history of this sport....an I thank you deserve more credit an appreciation 👍👍👍👍

25 bucks😊😊 ,ya that would send him a message, and he goes back, thats funny, they need to make a movie of this,

“Brooklyn Heavy’s WILD ORANGE PUMPKIN” a street racing legend in Brooklyn NY

This was awesome but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do one of these stories on Brooklyn Heavy!

,,,,,,,,,thanks again as always , for the work , research , and dedication to drag racing.......As a kid,,,,,Richie Di Nome was a friend of mine,,,,,He told me racing stories involving his older brother,,,,,Freddie ,,," Broadway Freddie " ....

There was a similar situation, beer cans on the track, at Alamo Dragway in San Antonio and the AHRA Nationals. It started when 'Goose broke a rear end and left oil from the starting line to well past the finish line. This was back when Garlits was part of the AHRA. Vice President, if I remember correctly. Fans were aggitated because Mongoose wasn't disqualified for oiling the track, even though Garlits himself had DQed a Pro Comp racer for putting a few drops down. The clean up was typical AHRA. Not very good. Anyway the next race was Garlits vs San Antonio local Jody Smart. You can guess how that went. Long story short, every beer can and bottle in Bexar County ended up on the track. Smart was a class act and won some NHRA races.

Flipping EPIC! Thanks Brian.

This barely scrapes the stories I've heard from my dad who was involved in drag racing in So. Florida in the 60s.

This story was Awsome,,do some more!! Lmfao there were more guys out there like this dude than you think!!😂

This is a fantastic episode! Thank you!

I think the first time the Paytons ran their TF late model Hemi was at Spruce Creek(they were one of the first to run one). McMillan was going to go first. I was told that the fastest thing he had driven up to that time was his Corvette. Any way T Payton was having trouble mixing the fuel so he just dumped 100% in. After they got it cranked McMillan stalled it right off the line. Trying to get out he dumped the chute out so instead of repacking Payton just cut it off with a knife? I thought they were done for the night but they cranked it up again and made a half pass with no chute. Before the dragster they had a AAF Altered made out of exhaust tubing. It had a 413/426 Wedge in it I believe. After a few runs the tubing was bent out of shape. Some how they managed to get one of the 427 Chev motors and put it in a 57 Chevy. They had to have gotten it from Ray Fox or Smokey Yunic since they were the only ones to have them at that time I believe. Money Talks.

That was AWESOME. First time I heard the complete story.

Brian - You have found your calling in life !! - Thanx for your Voice

Thanks Brian, what a story. Can you do a story about a young Prudhome, when allegedly there was a remodeling of a motel, or Big Jim Dunn's alleged hero fireman driver to set the records straight.

Amazing story. Thanks for sharing Brian.

Wow. Now that was a history lesson. Thanks Brian. Another great video.

Saw the headline, first thing i thought was "does Lohnes know about this" LOL!

Drag racing running on theft and drugs?? Never. Well apart from the dozens of times that I know of

I remember the carbon paper 'machines'... My dad's gas station, and after that, a baseball card shop both used those things... I swiped many cards on those mechanical things as a kid working in those stores...! And individually pricing every item in the stores with the old school yellow price guns... Thanks for the memories... Keep up your awesomeness...

RL Peyton & Ron Rivero are standing at the base of the Niagara timing tower, Niagara was my home track many years ago. And speaking or Brooklyn Heavy, we needed a clutch at a Niagara points meet, and he gave us one. "Just send me a check, my address is on the shipping label." 😅 Great times

Another great one. Thanks for the hard work.

I remember going with my dad when i was little to Ollie Olsen's shop at Southern Blvd. & Dixie Highway in W.P.B, Florida. They were long time friends. I just Loved the racecars. I grew up and ended up racing Stockcars. But never forgot Ollie and his race shop....

I remember one of my older brothers talking about RL and the Bristol thing. Back then Bristol was a pretty wild place. I was 16 and big into drag racing with my older brother and knew of Bill Stepp from Ohio and knew not to mess with him and his crew. I saw them run a lot at Ohio valley dragway and Edgewater dragway.

Awesome story. Thank you!

Great story, well done.

Very interesting story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Great story, Brian. Thank you!

Interesting. Back in the 60s, I'm pretty sure that most brands of beer came in tin cans. Coors was of the first to use aluminum cans.

This was awesome!!! Thanks for sharing!

Credit card security hasn't changed a lot here in Australia ... if anyone loses a card, the person who finds it can keep on shopping and spending up less than $200AUD each time unless the owner cancels the card. Google & Apple Wallet are a much better option.

Great bit of investigation. Awesome story. Even better a NED official is in the mix.

Why is this not a movie yet???

Ollie Olsen's Willy's had sophisticated rear-end, if I remember , and was immaculate in every detail.

Hey man I’m not into drag racing. Really don’t know much about it but I really enjoy good content… and this was really interesting. I’m going to sub Keep em coming

Thanks Brian for the History.

Great story, thank you for sharing !!

How about a story Virgil Cates. Don't be scared.

Aluminum cans all over the drag strip? I think back then they were likely steel cans, FWIW.

Best story ever Brian Lohnes! I've seen that Beer Can Strewn photo several times and wondered the story behind it.

Why has there not been some sort of movie about this guy? He's interesting, to say the least. Nice work!

The timeline of RL's last race is interesting. I have photos from Maple Grove that I thought were from 69 of a 'RL Peyton' dragster that are the same car seen towards the end of this video. I assume since his name is on the car that it was RL unless he had just sold it.

The cans were more than likely steel at that date, aluminum came into play later on.

I lived in Riverside and didn't even know this. I was however, at OMS to see Jerry Grant run the 1st 200 MPH lap in an Indy Car. Ontario Motor Speedway.

Actually, the CC companies would publish weekly paperback books of stolen CC numbers. You can see this in one of the gas station scene from The Jerk .

What a great story, John Force had a similar method of acquiring parts in the early days.

The address of Fontana Drag City still exists, but it is a 2-storey house at the end of a cul-de-sac in a nice looking neighborhood.

Wow ! I never heard of RL Payton , but now I have. Same for the others you listed. Instant Subscriber ! :)

At first it sounded like he was describing my uncle Bob, known as "The Reverand" Bob Sidebotham. At Irwindale in the 60s everyone at the track collected all he borrowed over the years, all at the same time. Even the tow car's tires were repoed. Later he was seen walking home from the track. But he was a great driver and held the AA/FA top speed record at Lions till the day the track closed. He drove the Bad News Coupe Topolino AA/FA. He would show up at family gatherings with green hair while smoking the devil's lettuce. The show didn't start till Uncle Bob made his appearance. The stories I could tell you.

Fantastic story of a legendary wild man, outlaw, drag racer. The fact that drag racing can cost a lot of money if you want to win, tended to attract a lot of, let's say, people who weren't just shade tree mechanics but shady people that made money doing shady things. It starts at the street racing levels nationwide. I know first hand from having friends and myself as teenagers being into the street racing scene in Los Angeles during the late 1970s - early 1990s. The guys with the fastest cars and making the biggest cash bets were the dudes who were the biggest drug dealers/ gang members. Your life was on the line a lot of the time and not from driving a 10 second "street" car. We would be in some really bad parts of the city and neighboring cities in the middle of the night. We all carried guns. Some of these guys went on to run at legitimate sanctioned drag races for many years still funding their hobby with money from other "hobbies". Some of those street races had guys making cash bets of $1k - $5k for one race. Hence the need for a gun or guns. A lot of these guys were Crips and Bloods and there would be a whole gang of them brothers all hanging out getting high acting fools and unpredictable. We're talking fast racing for that time on streetbikes, Camaros, Porsches, Chevelles, Vegas, Novas, Falcons, Mustangs and dudes hiding the bottle having it plumbed in the back of the block and the button tucked away but close to the driver sometimes using the horn button on the steering wheel or the old style highbeam floor switch as the button for the shot. My '67 Chevellle had the windshield washer fluid bottle filler with Jack Daniels and the hose bipassed the windshield and ran into the glove box so I could make a refreshing beverage anytime. Hahahaha. Oh, those were some wild times.

Andy, Vince and Joe Granatelli were the beginning of the rebel rousers.